Article by Zhiquan Yeo
What do a chisel, a speaker, tons of wire and many, many magnets have in common? Any guesses? No? Well, they all contribute to cutting edge and innovative interaction research. And how do those random pieces of equipment and material contribute to research? Well, read on and you’ll find out.
Now, research may sound dry and boring and completely nerdy, and I used to think that all PhDs were stuffy old gents in labcoats and bowties hunched over a table and muttering to themselves. Then, without warning, I stumbled headfirst into the research culture, and what did I find? These were some of the coolest folk in the world, doing what to me seemed like the best job in the world.
There are lots of different research areas, from the physical sciences, to the social sciences to computer science and all matter of areas in between. My research interests lie in cutting edge Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research, specifically in affective textual animations and novel interaction techniques. I work at 2 research labs, one at
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and the other at
Disney Research Pittsburgh (DRP). The 2 labs have similar, yet different cultures, but both produce tremendous amounts of innovation.
The lab at CMU works on projects related to user interfaces and interaction techniques. The lab has an academic slant, and the work primarily goes toward publications in major conferences and/or journals. Since its’ an academic lab, it has a slightly more relaxed culture, since conference deadlines are known well ahead of time (and because graduate students like to goof off). The lab also has a culture of “hacking”, not in the “break into computer systems” sense, but in using the stuff around us and building cool things.
This “hacking” culture leads to some very interesting ways of getting components that we need… You need a wire coil you say? Ok, hand me that chisel and hammer and I’ll break open this speaker and give it to you (See, I told you I’d tell you how we sued the chisel for research purposes). The best part is, everyone accepts that if you leave a tantalizing piece of electronic equipment in the general area, it’s going to get broken into and scavenged for parts. Since funding is tight in these bleak economic times, scavenging for parts makes perfect sense, and the hacker culture in the lab fits in perfectly. We scour surplus stores online to get electronic components, squeeze multiple circuit boards onto a single piece to save on fabrication costs, and build a lot of our own experiments from scratch. What may be surprising to most is that what looks like chaos in the lab is actually a finely tuned, research machine. There is a multitude of innovative research that comes out from the lab, and our faculty advisors are respected members of the HCI community. And yet, they let us grown up kids play with power tools, laser cutters and wreck mayhem in the lab, all in the name of good fun and serious research.
The lab at DRP on the other hand, is geared toward industrial research, and innovations go not only toward producing top-notch papers, but also could potentially make the company a lot of money. Thus, there is slightly more pressure to deliver results, but at the same time, the researchers are given a fairly wide berth in pursuing their own research interests. I’m involved in research on input technologies, and build circuits and sensor systems as part of my work. This is a far cry from my training in college, where I focused on software (I was trained as a computer scientist). But, the lab culture allows me to experiment and play around with new technology and equipment, all with the goal of developing the next generation of input technologies.
While there is less of a hacking culture at the DRP lab, we still cobble together test circuits using whatever we have on hand (less ripping apart of stuff though). The culture at the DRP lab is also one which encourages testing and simulation first before building actual hardware, and encourages best practices in design and analysis of projects. I basically learnt how to use circuit simulators to test sensor systems (coupled with copious amounts of wiring diagrams), and how to best lay out a circuit board to avoid interference. These practices would serve one well when going into industry, where products need to be built to spec and reliably, lest it lead to the failure of a product and economic woe.
The culture in a research lab is very different from that of normal offices. The people in the labs are allowed free reign in deciding what they want to do (well, kind of), and have at their disposal a range of tools, parts and skills to help their innovations come to life. While the CMU and DRP labs may be different, the core values seem the same, which is to encourage an environment where researchers can come up with great ideas, and leave their mark on the world.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, there is some research that needs to be done (actually, more like a speaker that needs to be, uh, “repurposed”).
Zhiquan “ZQ” Yeo is a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. He also does work with Disney Research Pittsburgh as a Research Associate. When not thinking about world domination with tiny robots, or designing new electronic projects, or doing some seriously bleeding edge research, ZQ can be found 3000 feet in the air, in a tiny airplane, bouncing through turbulence. He also has a not-updated-as-often-as-he-would-like blog/website at www.zhiquanyeo.comQuestions, comments and complaints (and offers of money) can be directed to zhiquan.yeo@gmail.com. Please direct all spam to /dev/null, or he will unleash an army of tiny robots :)